Over a thousand people have attended protests in Belfast and Derry
calling for DUP leader Arlene Foster to resign as Six County First
Minister after a public display of DUP infighting over corruption
allegations.

Stormont politics may be entering a new period of turmoil after Sinn
Fein’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness called on Foster (pictured, right) to step
aside to allow an independent inquiry look into the environmental
incentive scheme at the heart of the latest crisis.

The so-called ‘cash for ash’ scheme rewarded those burning wooden
pellets and other ‘green energy’ products. It provided a substantial
and unlimited income for those who carried out large-scale incineration
of biomass fuels for virtually any purpose.

The runaway scheme appears to have been used to enrich a cohort of
insiders and cronies, however, much of the detail remains a Stormont
secret.

A number of those already identifed as having signed up have links to
the DUP, including a DUP advisor, a family member and a DUP-controlled
council.

Unless a legal device is found to claw back contracted funds, the
scheme could cost 400 million pounds over the next 20 years.

Mr McGuinness called for Foster to stand aside pending a review, but
this was quickly rejected by the DUP, with a spokesman saying: “The
First Minister does not take her instructions from Sinn Fein, but from
the electorate.”

Foster said she will deliver a “full statement” on the matter on
Monday in the Belfast Assembly and outline how she hopes to reduce the
extent of the potential overspend. She also faces a motion of no
confidence tabled by the SDLP.

At the moment, the DUP has the numbers to prevent the motion being
carried. Sinn Fein is meeting today in Derry to decide how to vote, but
there is a prospect that the affair could result in the collapse of the
current assembly and possibly fresh elections.

The row over the ‘cash for ash’ scheme is the latest in a series of
controversies and scandals which has embroiled the DUP but also damaged
Sinn Fein in the process. Most recently, the Stormont administration
has been accused of illegally funnelling millions of pounds to UDA
paramilitaries.

In recent years Martin McGuinness and his colleagues in Sinn Fein have
staunchly defended their coalition with the DUP, but the party was
forced to yield to intense public pressure this week after former DUP
Minister Jonathan Bell (pictured, left) turned ‘whistleblower’. He dramatically
suggested Foster had blocked a move to close the scheme, potentially
costing hundreds of millions of pounds, and accused Foster of operating
a “hostile” atmosphere of “fear”.

Mr Bell, who knelt to pray before giving the explosive interview,
claimed his attempts to close off the lucrative tariffs were thwarted
by DUP advisers. “I believe this scheme was kept open wrongly,
inappropriately and when I commit to telling the truth I am not
prepared to speculate why other people did what they did,” he said.

The interview by Bell and another by Foster this week in which they
accused each other of bullying proved gripping television and recalled
the worst days of the Stormont era under former DUP leader Peter
Robinson.

Mr McGuinness said he made his call to the First Minister to stand down
during a conversation on Friday afternoon.

“I outlined my serious concern that the credibility of the political
institutions is being undermined by the serious and ongoing allegations
surrounding the design, operation, abuse and ending of the renewable
heating incentive scheme,” he said.

“This includes allegations from a former DUP minster that there was
corruption...This scheme has directly impacted on the public purse.
Taxpayers’ money wasted in this scheme needs to be retrieved.

“It is my belief the only way to establish the truth, and rebuild the
reputation of the institutions, is to urgently establish a fully
independent investigation into this matter.”

Mr McGuinness said it would be “in the public interest” for Ms Foster
to stand aside as First Minister “while that investigation is underway
and at least until an initial assessment had been concluded into the
veracity of all the allegations”.

He said: “That is what I would do if I was in this situation.”

In response, a DUP spokesman said, “The First Minister will not be
stepping aside, but instead is focused on ensuring the full facts about
this issue emerge and proposals are brought forward which can make a
significant reduction in the future financial burden the Executive
would face.”

Protests outside Belfast City Hall and Guildhall Square in Derry on
Friday evening organised by People before Profit brought large crowds
and were supported by a number of republican groups.

Gerry Carroll of People before Profit praised the “fantastic turnout”
and thanked everyone who attended. “The time for waiting on politicians
‘to get their act together’ is over,” he wrote on Facebook. “Our
message is clear; what Stormont does, the people can undo. Arlene has
to go, and the whole corrupt system can go with her.”

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